The field of the invention is optical transmission cables.
A light waveguide, consisting of a core and a cladding, normally has a coating applied thereover prior to cabling. The purpose of the overcoat is to provide additional structural and environmental protection to the light waveguide core and cladding. There are several standard light waveguide coating thicknesses.
It is usually necessary to remove a portion of the coating from one end of the light waveguide prior to splicing or connectorizing the optical fiber. In practice, a craftsman must enter the cable end and use a stripping tool to remove the light waveguide coating. A cleaning agent is normally applied to the light waveguide as well. The stripping operation is sometimes unsuccessful, and broken light waveguides can result.
To avoid the problems associated with field optical fiber stripping, some light waveguide cables are now provided as preassembled; that is, the cable as shipped by the manufacturer contains light waveguides which already have connectors properly connected to one end of the light waveguides. This option, however, requires that the particular types of fiber optic connectors to be attached be specified by the customer, and precautions must be taken against damage to the cable assemblies during shipment.